“Aye,” he said. “Big dumb cowards.”
Bria’s eyes widened.
Even she knew he was provoking them intentionally.
“You want to fight?” one snarled.
Kaelan spat blood at the man’s feet. “If you know how.”
The vines released him instantly.
Bria sucked in a sharp breath.
Kaelan attacked without hesitation the moment his arms came free, driving his fist hard into the nearest man’s jaw. Another swung at him immediately, while a third slammed into his ribs before he could fully turn.
The beating became brutal almost instantly.
There were simply too many of them.
Kaelan fought viciously despite it, landing blows when he could, but fists and boots struck him from every direction until blood ran freely from his mouth and brow.
Bria struggled wildly against the vines binding her wrists.
“Stop!” she shouted desperately. “You’ll kill him!”
The men ignored her.
One drove a heavy fist into Kaelan’s stomach hard enough to drop him to his knees, while another struck him across the face.
Still, he tried rising again. Still, he fought.
It took all six to finally force him down.
Moments later, they dragged him across the ground and dumped him roughly beside Bria.
Kaelan barely moved. Blood stained his mouth while one eye already swelled darkly beneath bruised skin.
Bria immediately rolled closer to him, tears burning fiercely in her eyes from both fear and anger.
“Why?” she whispered, upset. “You fool.”
Kaelan managed the faintest crooked smile despite his split swollen lips. “I love you too,” he muttered painfully.
The large men laughed and congratulated themselves. One dropped heavily onto a fallen log near the stream and declared they deserved rest before deciding what to do with their captives. The others agreed easily enough, still amused by the beating they had delivered.
Bria kept her gaze fixed upon Kaelan.
Though bruised and bloodied, he remained unbound now, exactly as he intended when he provoked them into fighting him. The vines still wrapped tightly around her wrists and ankles, but the men no longer seemed concerned about Kaelan. They had beaten him badly enough to believe he no longer posed a threat.
Bria knew better.
Even lying there bruised and bleeding, something dangerous still lingered quietly within him.
The men settled themselves carelessly around the clearing; some stretched out upon the ground near the stream. Their rough voices gradually faded until silence slowly reclaimed the forest once more.
Only then did Kaelan move.
Slowly he turned his head toward Bria.
